Generally, bulbs or fluorescent lamps are being much used as indoor or outdoor lightings, but since the bulbs or the fluorescent lamps are very short in lifetime, the bulbs or the fluorescent lamps should be frequently replaced. In order to solve such a problem, a lighting apparatus using a light emitting diode (LED) has been developed. Particularly, since an LED lighting apparatus has good controllability, a fast response time, high electro-optical conversion efficiency, long lifetime, and low power consumption, development and research on the lighting apparatus using the LED are being more actively done.
Recently, a lighting apparatus where a plurality of LED modules are assembled in series or parallel is being developed. Particularly, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting panel using an organic light emitting device instead of an LED module is being developed, and moreover, a lighting apparatus where a plurality of OLED lighting panels are assembled in series or parallel is being researched and developed.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a related art lighting apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 1, the related art lighting apparatus may include first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n connected to each other electrically and serially, a power supply member 20, and a power cable 30.
Each of the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n may be a flat light source including an LED module or an organic light emitting device. A first power terminal is provided in one end of each of the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n, and a second power terminal is provided in the other end of each of the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n. Here, the first power terminal may be a first lighting power source (for example, a positive terminal (+)), and the second power terminal may be a second lighting power source (for example, a negative terminal (−)).
The power supply member 20 is connected to the first power terminal of the first lighting panel 10-1 and the power cable 30 and supplies a lighting power, supplied from the outside, to the first lighting panel 10-1.
The power cable 30 electrically connects the second power terminal of the nth lighting panel 10-n to the power supply member 20.
The related art lighting apparatus drives the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n with the lighting power to illuminate the inside or the outside.
However, in the related art lighting apparatus, due to an internal resistance of each of the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n, brightness is reduced in a direction from the first lighting panel 10-1 to the nth lighting panel 10-n, and for this reason, there is a problem where brightness of each of the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n is non-uniform. Also, in the related art lighting apparatus, since a separate power cable 30 for electrically and serially connecting the first to nth lighting panels 10-1 to 10-n is needed, expandability is reduced due to a length of the power cable 30.
Information disclosed in this Background section was already known to the inventors of the present invention before achieving the present invention or is technical information acquired in the process of achieving the present invention. Therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.